31.2 knots of instant speed at midday, clocking up 429 miles on the counter in the last 24 hours: the maxi catamaran Orange is chomping up the miles while gliding due east along the 46 degree south latitude. Currently sailing with a staysail and a two-reef mainsail, it’s now 930 miles from the longitude of Cape Leeuwin (southwest point of Australia). We sense great relief in the voices of Bruno Peyron and Gilles Chiorri on the radio shift of the day. Indeed, the maxi catamaran Orange has found – finally! – classic sailing conditions in this temperamental Great South, in other words downwind conditions of 30 to 35 knots and a calmer sea pushing it from behind. “We have a regular flow that is going to allow us to go fast,” declares the skipper. “But above all it’s going to continue to help calm the sea. This will do a lot of good to everyone, the men as well as the boat!”
